


Snowfall

by herwhiteknight



Series: 365 Days of Sarah/Cosima [16]
Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: ...., F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Meet-Cute, it starts out that way so??? credit., sorrynotsorry, the meet-cute doesn't really end so "cute" but uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 20:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9673922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herwhiteknight/pseuds/herwhiteknight
Summary: Sarah accidentally knocks over Cosima outside a coffee shop.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Gotta make some shitty pots sometimes :P Hope y'all enjoy anyways!
> 
> Prompt: Snowfall
> 
> Day 17 of 365.

Sarah was trudging home through the suddenly heavy snowfall, aimless because her foster mother had refused, for the fourth day in a row, to let her see her daughter. Snarling to herself, she shoved her hands further into the pockets of her leather jacket, ducked her head down, brought her shoulders up to her ears. And didn't see the text-book laden student coming towards her.

“Bloody hell-!”

“Shit!”

Sarah, wearing combat boots, managed to remain standing on the slightly icy sidewalk. But the other woman, clearly unprepared for Canada's unpredictable weather wearing chunky heels, dropped all of her textbooks and hit the ground. Hard.

“Ouch,” she said weakly, wincing as she tried to pick herself up.

“Sorry,” Sarah grunted, kneeling down to help grab one of the fallen binders. Despite the foul mood she was in, Mrs. S hadn't raised her to be unkind. “Here,” she offered, gathering a few of the thinner books under one arm and offered the other free hand to help her up.

The other woman picked up the last remaining textbook and binder before turning back to latch on to Sarah's outstretched hand. Sarah blinked as the woman made eye contact with her as she helped pull her up. _Shit. She's cute._ “Uh.. thanks,” she smiled, tugging gently on the textbooks when Sarah held them in her outstretched hand just a little too long.

“Oh, uh.. right. Here,” Sarah relinquished her hold on the stack and promptly shoved her hands back in her pockets. “Well-” she shrugged and started to continue on her way.

“If you don't have any plans,” her voice stopped her in her tracks. As she continued, Sarah turned around, a small scowl forming on her lips. But really, she was just trying not to smile. “I'm done classes for the day. You wanna go get a coffee or something? It's on me.”

“Um, I...” Sarah shuffled slightly awkwardly, tracing lines absently in the freshly fallen snow with the toe of her boot.

“But if you're busy – I mean, it just seemed like you had somewhere to go, you know, when you ran into me, so I get it if-”

“No! Uh, ah. No, I mean. I don't have anywhere to be right now. Coffee sounds great, actually,” Sarah glanced up to find that the other woman was still looking at her with warm gentle eyes and a huge grin. _Shit,_ Sarah realized, knowing she was done for.

Shifting her recently gathered textbooks to one-arm with a slight amount of difficulty, the other woman held out her hand. “Cosima,” she said, that grin never leaving her face.

“Sarah,” she said in reply, taking the other woman's hands and was surprised to find how warm it was, despite the weather.

“It's very nice to meet you, Sarah,” Cosima said, continuing to hold Sarah's hand as she began to walk away from her, “Come on, I owe you a coffee after you saved my klutzy ass.”

Sarah let herself be pulled forward by Cosima's intertwined grip around her fingers, feeling happier than she had been in awhile. Something about Cosima's grin was infectious. And the warm feeling she got from just one look into Cosima's eyes was... really nice, to say the least.

“So, what are you studying then?” Sarah asked as Cosima pushed open the door of a tiny, hole-in-the-wall type coffee shop.

Just inside the door, Cosima stopped short and turned to Sarah, blasting her with that bright grin again, her eyes shining with excitement, making Sarah feel like she had just stepped inside a furnace. Or, that could have just been because they were standing right underneath the shop's main heating vent. “Oh my god, so, I just moved here, right, so I wasn't sure if they would transfer my credits, because they don't have an evolutionary development program here, but the next closest thing _seemed_ to have a lot of the same classes I had taken previously-”

As soon as Cosima started listing off classes and what she was majoring in now, Sarah was completely lost. Lost in terms of understanding and, well... in terms of how Cosima seemed to just have _transformed_ into something beautiful in her excitement.

“Hey!” a rough shout from behind them broke the spell. “You two gonna order or what? You're holding up the line!”

“Shit, sorry,” Cosima turned her grin on the guy behind them, who just harrumphed in frustration and folded his arms. “My bad,” Cosima commented with a short laugh, “I get so carried away when someone asks me about my studies.”

“I thought it was cute,” Sarah blurted, then immediately threw her gaze to the ground. _Shit, I did_ not _just say that. Shite._

“You did?” Cosima said in surprise. Sarah just nodded to the floor, feeling the room heat up by about ten degrees – at least. Then, quietly from above her, “Well, thank you Sarah.”

“Uh.. yeah, I-” she mumbled, chancing a glance upward to find that Cosima was already ordered her drink. When Cosima looked questioningly at her, Sarah just tacked on a black coffee to the order before returning her gaze back to her toes.

They stood in silence while they waited for their drinks to be made, Sarah keeping her gaze to the floor and Cosima... well. Sarah wasn't sure what she was doing. Something about the other woman made her ridiculously shy. And Sarah kind of hated it.

When their drinks came, Sarah immediately swiped both of them from the counter without a single word and headed over to a table by the window. “What?” she said when Cosima dumped her books on the table. “I figured you had your hands full already.”

Cosima took her drink once she sat down across from Sarah, smiling into the rim of the mug. Though whether it was from Sarah's attempt at chivalry – _not chivalry, just being kind, I don't know anything about chivalry –_ or the warm comfort of the drink, Sarah couldn't be sure. And she was too shy to find out. _Stubborn,_ she told herself firmly, _Stubborn. This woman is_ not _making me shy._

“What about you, then Sarah?” Cosima asked when she set down her drink. She remained leaning forward, knees pressed together, forearms resting on her thighs.

Sarah blinked in shock at Cosima's somehow familiar posture – one that she would usually assume herself. In the hopes of bringing back some of her confidence, Sarah slouched back into the chair, knees dangling open and her free hand, the one not toying with the handle of the mug, rested easily between her thighs. “Not much to tell 'bout me,” she muttered, closing up rather suddenly. The way it always happened the second someone started trying to figure out her life's story.

Cosima tapped the handle of her own mug with her thumb in contemplation, tilting her head to the side as she regarded Sarah. Her eyes were still warm, but there were so many questions in her gaze it made Sarah feel like she was being studied under a microscope. “You look like you're used to this,” Cosima finally gave, gesturing to the way the snow fell heavily outside, blanketing every surface.

“Yeah,” Sarah said shortly. Cosima held the silence, waiting for elaboration. Suddenly feeling the need to answer at least _one_ of Cosima's questions, Sarah continued, “Lived here most of my life, with my foster mum. Though, haven't been back to that house in.. I dunno, at least a year.”

Okay. _A lot_ of Cosima's questions. What _was_ it about this woman that made Sarah just... talk like that? _God. Whipped already Manning? This is so much worse than what happened with that guy in Orange County._

“What's kept you from going back?” Cosima asked gently after another long, quiet moment.

“I dunno, do I?!” Sarah suddenly snapped, cracking her mug onto the table, causing one of the employers employees to look over at her in distrust.

“I'm sorry, I just-” Cosima tried, stretching a hand out to gap the distance between her and Sarah.

“No, y'know, that's enough,” Sarah barked and stood abruptly and made a beeline for the door just as the employee had come back from the back room with the manager.

“Sarah!” Cosima called desperately, pushing through the door without even zipping up her coat. She shivered the second she stepped onto the icy sidewalk in pursuit of Sarah, who was now trudging rather rapidly away. “Sarah, c'mon! I'm sorry, I didn't know-”

“Yeah, no, y'didn't!” Sarah whirled on her rather suddenly, causing Cosima to bump into her and nearly lose her footing. She thought she felt Sarah's hands at her waist to steady her for a brief moment before the contact disappeared. “Just – get out, yeah? Don't get involved with my life, alright? M'nothing but trouble.”

“Is that something your foster mother said?” Cosima couldn't help herself.

But Sarah, surprisingly, still answered. Even with the heavy weight of Cosima's wallet in her pocket, there was _still_ something about this woman that was so _gentle._ She allowed guilt to crawl up her throat, to tinge her voice with twofold regret, “Yeah. But she's the only one who didn't really believe it.” Then she turned away with Cosima's information stashed away in the guilty recesses of her heart, with plans to drain her for everything she had. And start over fresh for her daughter.

 


End file.
